Search

Earth science is a dynamic system science that explores the structures and processes of the earth. Knowledge about the earth is important for citizens since the science is a vital part in the sustainable development of the society. Without good basic knowledge the citizens don’t have the possibility to anticipate in the questions and decision-making that concerns e.g. anthropogenic climate change. In the Swedish school system earth science is not an independent subject until academically studies at the University’s. The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of knowledge among citizens and policymakers in Sweden and to find out if there is any illiteracy for earth science in Sweden. The method conducted of two web-based surveys and the questions in the surveys are focused around the subject of anthropogenic climate change because it is one of the most well known areas of earth science amongst the citizens. The survey results are based on 159 answers from each survey and shows that there is illiteracy for earth science in Sweden. It is also possible to se that the policymakers have better knowledge about earth science than the citizens. The results also show that there is a concern amongst the citizens regarding the effects that humans do to anthropogenic climate change. One solution to the illiteracy and worries amongst the public is better education in earth science. How to best teach a subject is developed in the research area of didactics but for earth science this is a relatively young science, in need of more research both in Sweden and internationally. Geovetenskap är en dynamisk systemvetenskap som utforskar jordens utveckling och uppbyggnad. Geovetenskapliga kunskaper är vitala för det moderna hållbara samhället, men i Sverige finns ämnet geovetenskap bara som fristående ämne på akademisk nivå. Utan grundkunskaper har medborgarna inte lika stora möjligheter att delta i debatter och fatta beslut i frågor som exempelvis antropogena klimatförändringar. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka det geovetenskapliga kunskapsläget i Sverige och om frånvaron av denna undervisning i skolan/gymnasiet kan orsaka geovetenskaplig analfabetism. Undersökningen genomfördes via två internetbaserade enkäter en riktade sig mot Sverige allmänhet och en mot tjänstemän/politiker. Frågorna i enkäterna byggdes upp kring antropogena klimatförändringar då detta område är mer allmänt känt än ämnet geovetenskap och de övrigt innefattande områdena. Resultatet från undersökningen baseras på 159 svar från respektive enkät och visar att det finns en geovetenskaplig analfabetism i båda undersökningsgrupperna. Det går att utläsa en liten skillnad i kunskapsnivå mellan de två undersökningsgrupperna, beslutsfattare/tjänstemän har en något högre kunskapsnivå än allmänheten. Resultaten visar också att det finns en oro bland allmänheten för olika effekter av klimatförändringar som att Golfströmmen kan stanna och att antalet tsunamivågor kan komma att öka. Dessutom tror en mindre del (16%) av allmänheten att jordbävningen i Chile 2010 orsakades av antropogena klimatförändringar. För att kunna förbättra de geovetenskapliga kunskapsnivåerna krävs utbildning av både barn och vuxna. Dessutom krävs det mer forskning i geovetenskaplig didaktik som är ett ungt och outforskat område både i Sverige och internationellt.

Gravity is measured and used by Lantmäteriet to calculate a model of the geoid to get accurate reference heights for positioning. Lantmäteriet are continuously measuring new gravity and height data across Sweden to both complement, replace and to add new data points. This is mainly done by measurements in the field at benchmark points. One of the major reasons for continued measurements on e.g. benchmark points is that the measuring always moves forward which makes the measurements more accurate. More accurate data leads to a more accurate calculation of the geoid due to the more accurate gravity values. A more accurate geoid gives the possibility of more precise positioning across Sweden, due to the more precise height values. Lantmäteriet is in the process of updating their entire database of gravity data. They are also measuring at locations where there are none or sparse with measurements. As a stage in the renewing of their database and other systems the Geodesy department wishes to get an introduction to the ArcGIS environment. By customizations of several ArcGIS functions, Lantmäteriet’s work with the extensive data will get easier and perhaps faster. Customized tools will help make e. g. adding and removing data points easier, as well as making cross validation and several other functions only a click of a button away.

Länge har landskapets alla olika processer påverkat och påverkar landskapets utseende och utveckling. Landskapet är i en ständig naturlig förändring, en förändring som är kontinuerlig i tid och rum. Dess strukturer och former är ofta idag avlagringar från istider och processer som skedde för länge sedan och har genom dessa hjälpt människan förstå jordens utveckling. Människan är villkorslöst beroende av landskapet med dess resurser och utnyttjar dem i en allt större utsträckning. Många av resurserna vi utnyttjar har alla sin grund i landskapets geologi. Människans påverkan på landskapet är så pass stor att landskapet med alla dess former och avlagringar hotas om de inte beaktas. För att effektiv kunna anpassa brukande och annan användning av naturens resurser krävs förståelse för landskapets grundstrukturer, geologiska processer och deras resultat. För att i framtiden fortsätta kunna ha kännedom om landskapets bildning och historia och andra samhällsrelevanta faktorer som miljö och vatten är det viktigt att införa de geovetenskapliga värdena i all slags samhällsplanering. När geovetenskapliga värden glöms bort och enbart natur, kultur, friluftslivsvärden etc. sätts i fokus var för sig, förloras helhetssynen. Eftersom de geovetenskapliga värdena är en förutsättning för dessa värden är de ett viktig, idag nästan outnyttjat verktyg för att sammanfoga sektoriella värden till en helhetssyn. I denna studie har en vägplanering valts ut för att illustrera denna brist, där en inventering av studieområdet samt en analys av den valda vägplaneringens rapporter och miljökonsekvensbeskrivningen gjorts. Studien visar att man beaktar värden sektoriellt och oftast objekt för objekt. Helhetssynen på landskapet saknas nästan helt. De geovetenskapliga egenvärdena beaktas inte alls och det verktyg för helhetssyn som geovetenskapen erbjuder används inte alls. Landscape processes such as erosion and weathering have for very long time shaped and reshaped the landscape. The continuously natural changes of the landscape will never stop. Today its structures and shapes are historical deposits and have helped humans to understand Earth’s history. Humans are unconditionally dependent on Earth’s resources and will continue being so for an unforeseeable future. Human development such as infrastructure alters an unnatural landscape where the natural landscape with all its forms and deposits are threatened to disappear if not protected from exploitation. To continuing understanding Earth’s history in the future and to developing ecological areas, it’s important to introduce the geological values in all types of society planning. When geological values are forgotten or disregarded and ecological values get the majority of attention you loose the bigger picture. Instead a more holistic view is needed that accounts for all natural values. In this study, a path plan has been selected to illustrate this short supply, where an inventory of the study area and an analysis of the selected path plan’s reports and environmental impact assessment have been made. The results from the study indicate that objects are considered object by object and observe the geoscientific values ​​more durable and it’s often unclear how the geological values are affected.

Tanken på att skapa en geopark, ett område med geovetenskapliga besöksmål, i Siljansområdet väcktes för flera år sedan. Idag arbetar Projekt Meteorum med att förverkliga denna idé. Utgångspunkten är det meteoritnedslag som formade landskapet här för 377 miljoner år sedan och som sedan dess haft stor betydelse för bygden och dess utveckling. Den geologiska historien i Siljansområdet är lång och inte helt lätt att förstå, som så ofta när vi försöker tolka det som hänt långt före vår egen tid. Den tar egentligen sin början för omkring 1 800 miljoner år sedan, då bergarterna i sydöst bildas i samband med att den svekofenniska bergskedjan reste sig. Det landskap som meteoriten träffade bildades under många årmiljoner. Fler bergarter bildades, berg höjde sig och eroderade ner, hav sköljde över land och drog sig tillbaka. Efter meteoritnedslaget följde många miljoner år under vilka nya lager av bergarter bildades och eroderades bort, senast genom istidens inverkan. Men än idag finns kraterstrukturen kvar och tack vare nedslaget är Siljansområdet idag en av mycket få platser i Sverige där vi kan studera de välbevarade sedimentära bergarterna. Här berättas en historia om livets utveckling och en planet i ständig förändring. De speciella förutsättningarna har utan tvekan påverkat så väl djur och natur som de människor som valde att bosätta sig här. Denna historia kan ge mycket glädje och ökad förståelse för såväl vår egen planet som den speciella plats Siljansområdet är. Att arbeta med att berätta den inom ramen för en geopark är ett utmärkt sätt att binda samman och belysa alla de delar som formar bygden idag. Där ryms såväl den säregna naturen som den viktiga kalkindustrin. Med meteoritnedslaget som centrum kommer besökare att lockas från hela världen för att uppleva allt Siljansområdet har att erbjuda.

Over 70% of China's domestic oil production is obtained from 9 giant oilfields. Understanding the behaviour of these fields is essential to both domestic oil production and future Chinese oil imports. This study utilizes decline curves and depletion rate analysis to create some future production outlooks for the Chinese giant oilfields. We can conclude that China's future domestic oil production faces a significant challenge caused by maturing and declining giant fields. Evidence also indicates that the extensive use of water flooding and enhanced oil recovery methods may be masking increasing scarcity and may result in even steeper future decline rates than the ones currently being seen. The Chinese petroleum industry has managed to keep many of their giants on a production plateau for many decades. However, nothing can change the eventual onset of decline in oilfields and many of the Chinese giants have already passed their peak production levels. Our results suggest that a considerable drop in oil production from the Chinese giant oilfields can be expected over the next decades. 摘要: 中国国内超过70%的原油产量来自于9个大油田。掌握这些油田的动态对于了解中国国内原油产量和未来中国原油进口需求是必要的。该研究利用递减曲线和采油速度分析，得出中国大油田未来产量的走势。研究表明，中国国内未来原油产量将会面临一个巨大的挑战，而这正是由大油田的成熟和递减引起的。证据也表明，水驱和提高采收率方法的大规模运用将会掩盖日益严重的资源缺乏，并可能会导致油田未来递减率比目前所见到的递减率更大。中国石油工业已经设法使其国内大油田的产量在几十年内保持稳定，但任何措施都无法阻止这些油田最终走向递减，且中国许多大油田已经过了峰值产量期进入递减。笔者认为，在未来几十年里，中国大油田的原油产量将大幅降低。 Key words: giant oilfields, future Chinese oil production, decline curve analysis, production modelling, oil production strategy

The management of water resources and waste water varies between the countries of the EU. For many years, a large part of the water in Europe has been contaminated by, among other things, insufficiently treated waste water and emissions from agriculture. The EU Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC and the Urban Waste Water Directive 91/271/EEC are intended to harmonize fresh-water management and waste water management within the whole EU, aiming at safeguarding drinking water of good quality and a high quality of all water within the EU today and in the future. There are however some problems concerning the waste-water directive. One problem is the huge investment needed in Slovakia to fulfil the demands of the waste-water directive for waste-water management in larger communities (with more than 2000 inhabitants). Many waste-water treatment plants need to be upgraded or built, and in addition a large part of the households in eastern Slovakia are not yet connected to a municipal water-supply and waste-water collecting system (including waste-water treatment). Subsidies from the EU’s structural funds are needed for Slovakia to fulfil the requirements of the waste-water directive. Because this directive only applies to larger communities, smaller communities and private sewage are not affected by the directive and therefore, in general, not eligible for financial funding from EU. Financial funding, however, is needed for addressing inadequate sewage in small communities with poor socioeconomic and municipal financial resources. For water protection to be effective, it is important to take also private sewage emissions into consideration, even though they might appear insignificant. Point emissions from insufficient private sewage (private sewage systems with insufficient waste-water treatment or emission of untreated waste water), primarily in small, tightly clustered communities in Slovakia or for example in Sweden in areas where weekend houses are being converted into permanent dwellings, are potential sources of pollution that can cause health or/and environmental problems. Inadequate private sewage can thus reduce the quality of both surface and ground water and have a negative impact on aquatic ecosystems, which in turn makes it more difficult to reach the quality standards of the Water Framework Directive and its daughter directives. This applies to both Slovakia and Sweden. The private sewage solutions that are recommended today are often satisfactory but not without problems. To give an example, miniature waste water treatment plants are expensive to put in place, require technological knowledge on the part of the property owner and they also require a daily flow of waste water to function properly. Improper handling of the miniature water treatment plant may cause inefficient or no water treatment at all, in some cases the bacterial content of the waste water may increase instead of being reduced. To address the problem concerning private sewage it is important that (1) waste-water solutions are adapted to local circumstances and financial funding are given to economically week municipalities (2) the property owner (owner of the private sewage) regularly controls the quality of the out-going treated wastewater (if it is possible) and (3) that efficient inspections with injunctions (from authorities) are carried out to discover faulty private sewage. Unfortunately financial funding, in general, is not given to small municipalities and/or inappropriate private sewage and inspections, both in Slovakia and Sweden, are generally slow.

This essay is about the origin, planning and establishment of the European Space Research Organisation's (ESRO) sounding rocket base Esrange outside Kiruna in Northern Sweden. Three main questions are examined. First I show there were not just scientific and technical but also political, economical as well as military reasons to build a European rocket base. Second, I scrutinize the reasons to choose Northern Sweden as the location for the rocket base. As it turns out, the main reasons were the favourable location of Northern Sweden within the aurora oval zone, the proximity of the Kiruna Geophysical Observatory, and the possibility to use a large, although not quite uninhabited, area where the launched rockets could crash. Finally, I examine the difficulty of talking about boundaries of various kinds, such as temporal, spatial and functional. The essay also provides a discussion on possible ways to continue research on this topic.

The formation of modern society has been dominated by coal and oil, and together these two fossil fuels account for nearly two thirds of all primary energy used by mankind. This makes future production a key question for future social development and this thesis attempts to answer whether it is possible to rely on an assumption of ever increasing production of coal and oil. Both coal and oil are finite resources, created over long time scales by geological processes. It is thus impossible to extract more fossil fuels than geologically available. In other words, there are limits to growth imposed by nature. The concept of depletion and exhaustion of recoverable resources is a fundamental question for the future extraction of coal and oil. Historical experience shows that peaking is a well established phenomenon in production of various natural resources. Coal and oil are no exceptions, and historical data shows that easily exploitable resources are exhausted while more challenging deposits are left for the future. For oil, depletion can also be tied directly to the physical laws governing fluid flows in reservoirs. Understanding and predicting behaviour of individual fields, in particularly giant fields, are essential for understanding future production. Based on comprehensive databases with reserve and production data for hundreds of oilfields, typical patterns were found. Alternatively, depletion can manifest itself indirectly through various mechanisms. This has been studied for coal. Over 60% of the global crude oil production is derived from only around 330 giant oilfields, where many of them are becoming increasingly mature. The annual decline in existing oil production has been determined to be around 6% and it is unrealistic that this will be offset by new field developments, additional discoveries or unconventional oil. This implies that the peak of the oil age is here. For coal a similar picture emerges, where 90% of the global coal production originates from only 6 countries. Some of them, such as the USA show signs of increasing maturity and exhaustion of the recoverable amounts. However, there is a greater uncertainty about the recoverable reserves and coal production may yield a global maximum somewhere between 2030 and 2060. This analysis shows that the global production peaks of both oil and coal can be expected comparatively soon. This has significant consequences for the global energy supply and society, economy and environment. The results of this thesis indicate that these challenges should not be taken lightly.

This essay is about the origin, planning and establishment of the European Space Research Organisation's (ESRO) sounding rocket base Esrange outside Kiruna in Northern Sweden. Three main questions are examined. First I show there were not just scientific and technical but also political, economical as well as military reasons to build a European rocket base. Second, I scrutinize the reasons to choose Northern Sweden as the location for the rocket base. As it turns out, the main reasons were the favourable location of Northern Sweden within the aurora oval zone, the proximity of the Kiruna Geophysical Observatory, and the possibility to use a large, although not quite uninhabited, area where the launched rockets could crash. Finally, I examine the difficulty of talking about boundaries of various kinds, such as temporal, spatial and functional. The essay also provides a discussion on possible ways to continue research on this topic.

Oil is the black blood that runs through the veins of the modern global energy system. While being the dominant source of energy, oil has also brought wealth and power to the western world. Future supply for oil is unsure or even expected to decrease due to limitations imposed by peak oil. Energy is fundamental to all parts of society. The enormous growth and development of society in the last two-hundred years has been driven by rapid increase in the extraction of fossil fuels. In the foresee-able future, the majority of energy will still come from fossil fuels. Consequently, reliable methods for forecasting their production, especially crude oil, are crucial. Forecasting crude oil production can be done in many different ways, but in order to provide realistic outlooks, one must be mindful of the physical laws that affect extraction of hydrocarbons from a reser-voir. Decline curve analysis is a long established tool for developing future outlooks for oil production from an individual well or an entire oilfield. Depletion has a fundamental role in the extraction of finite resources and is one of the driving mechanisms for oil flows within a reservoir. Depletion rate also can be connected to decline curves. Consequently, depletion analysis is a useful tool for analysis and forecasting crude oil production. Based on comprehensive databases with reserve and production data for hundreds of oil fields, it has been possible to identify typical behaviours and properties. Using a combination of depletion and decline rate analysis gives a better tool for describing future oil production on a field-by-field level. Reliable and reasonable forecasts are essential for planning and nec-essary in order to understand likely future world oil production.

Undersökningen behandlar hur kriminella personer och polisen använder sig av geografiska förutsättningar i sina respektive verksamheter. Hur de först kartlägger objekt i sin omgivning för att sedan välja hur de ska agera. Kriminella personer och polisen undersöks för att visa hur aktörer, på olika sida om lagen, möter liknande geografiska förutsättningar fast upplever dem på olika sätt. Avslutningsvis återges deras inställning till att först kartlägga objekt i sin omgivning innan de agerar. Undersökningen skildrar hur aktörer subjektivt upplever objektiva föremål i sin omgivning på olika sätt, beroende på deras avsikter. Kriminella personer planerar ett brott genom att först kartlägga sin omgivning. Det leder till att de sedan kan avgöra hur de ska agera på brottsplatsen. De beger sig till brottsplatsen en tid innan brottet ska utföras. På brottsplatsen undersöker de människors dagliga rutiner och hur objekt som exempelvis byggnader är placerade, för att kunna underlätta deras brott. De kriminella har angett vilken tid på dygnet ett brott är som mest gynnsamt för dem. Om de inte kan utföra ett brott under en särskild tid ökar risken för att gripas. Objekt i en omgivning kan skapa tillfällen och försvåra för kriminella att genomföra brott. Deras erfarenhet bidrar till att hitta tillfällen som lämpar sig för brott i en omgivning. Svårigheter anser de vara andra människor som befinner sig på en brottsplats och väderförhållanden. I polisens arbete kartläggs objekt i omgivningen utförligt, eftersom de inte vill riskera att skada andra poliser, misstänkta eller allmänheten, när de ska agera i arbetet. På en brottsplats försöker de säkra bevismaterial beroende på brottsplatsens förutsättningar. Polisen vill göra ett gripande på säkrast möjliga sätt, i annat fall kan en polisaktion komma att avbrytas. Det kan handla om att gripa en misstänkt under en särskild tid på dygnet. Under ett spaningsarbete ska enskilda poliser själva kartlägga sin omgivning och avgöra hur en förflyttning ska ske. Polisspanare måste ständigt förnya och omvärdera sin omgivning. Både polisen och kriminella anser att de inte kan utföra respektive arbete utan att först ta hänsyn åt de objekt som finns i en omgivning. De resonerar om varandras agerande och uppfattar liknande objekt i omgivningen. Dessa upplever de sedan på olika sätt, till följd av deras avsikter i arbetet.

A study has been conducted to assess the possibilities to introduce dead cattle organs as the raw material for biogas generation at the rural household level in Bangladesh. At the same time, the present energy situation in Bangladesh is highlighted. The actors in the energy sector have been identified. The energy policy of Bangladesh is not transparent and there seems to be no energy strategy for the country. Possibilities of other renewable sources of energy are also discussed. Biomass fuels comprise the main source of energy for the rural people and the major share of energy use is consumed after cooking and household lightning. Enormous amount of labor is spent in gathering and collecting of fuel wood and agricultural residues that reduces productivity among women and young children. Besides, biogas is generated from agricultural residues and animal excreta in Bangladesh. Tremendous pressure on rural forests for fuel wood is increasing and environmental degradation is occurring. Agricultural lands are losing vital nutrients as people are using crop residues and animal excreta for energy. Under present condition, the possibilities of adopting biogas technology and dead cattle organs as the raw materials to generate biogas is analyzed in terms of availability of the raw material. Sustainable development using biogas is also considered. And lastly, some recommendation is suggested, based on the current energy situation of Bangladesh.

This study develops a model for understanding spatial change and the construction of space as a meeting-place, and then employs it in order to show an otherwise little-known picture of (sub-)urban Russia and its transformation from Soviet times to today. The model is based on time-geographic ideas of time-space as a limited resource in which forces of various kinds struggle for access and form space in interaction with each other. Drawing on cultural semiotics and the concepts of lifeworld and system, the study highlights the social side of these space-forming forces. Based on a long-term fieldwork (participant observation) in Ligovo/Uritsk, a high-rise residential district developed around 1970 and situated on the outskirts of Sankt-Peterburg (St Petersburg), the empirical material concerns processes of urban identity, spatial representations and local politics. The study explicates three codes used to form the image of the city that all relate to its pre-Revolutionary history, two textual strategies of juxtaposition in creating the genius loci of a place, and a discussion of what I call Soviet "stiff landscape" in relation to Soviet mental and ordinary maps of the urban landscape. Moreover, the study shows that the newly implemented self-governing municipalities have not realised their potential as political actors in forming local space, which raises questions on the democratisation of urban space. Finally, the study argues that the model that guides the research is a tool that facilitates the application of the world-view of time-geography and the epistemology of the landscape of courses in concrete research. The study ends with an attempt to generalise spatial change in four types.

In 1999 the Swedish Parliament decided about 15 environmental goals aimed to be achieved in time for the next generation. For example physical social planning must be based on programs and strategies how cultural-historical values has been attended, so called programs of cultural heritage. By law the Swedish municipalities are responsible for reaching these goals by creating program of cultural heritage. But only a few of the municipalities have these programs, meaning that many municipalities need to create programs of cultural heritage in the next five years. The aim of this report is to present a model of analysis on programs of cultural heritage in municipalities for preservation and development of cultural environments. By testing the model on the municipalities of Osby and Tomelilla methods on how to create a new program of cultural heritage or how to complete existing documents are formulated. One of the conclusions is that one document, program of cultural heritage, functions as landscape analysis, model of cultural valuation and strategy of developing cultural values. One condition is that the program of cultural heritage is established in social planning in the municipality. Two case-studies, the Osby and Tomelilla programs of cultural heritage with text-analysis and interviews, constitutes the study. The municipalities do not use these programs in full extension, often based on ignorance. When the program isn’t established with politicians or employees it can’t be established with citizens. The study shows great differences between the program in Tomelilla which can be applied to the physical social planning, and the program in Osby which can’t. The conclusion is that the program needs to be adjusted for the cause if the program can’t be applied in the hysical social planning in the municipality. The common meaning in the municipalities is that cultural heritage is a positive factor, which makes it possible to reach the environmental goals, regional development, tourism et cetera. One important part in a program of cultural heritage is to erase the boundaries between nature, recreation and culture by finding the starting point in the specific environment, not based on the administrative responsibility.

This thesis aims to show how biogeophysical and social processes are interlinked in landscape change, and to propose approaches for interdisciplinary environmental assessments (such as EIAs), concentrating on developing countries’ situations, and representation of findings from such studies. Landscape in its holistic sense is a very good concept and basis for intellectual and practical use in environmental dialogues. However, landscapes are valued and assessed differently, depending on cultural background along with individual characteristics. Methods of conducting interdisciplinary environmental assessments need to vary, but it is important to follow a structure to avoid too broad and general studies that only assemble a few factors and present them without an integrated synthesis. This thesis has suggested one research sequence and structure that has proven to be practical and possible to execute in areas where data is scarce and where local involvement is a major component. It extends the observation period in time and space where remote sensing analyses are integrated with interviews, archive material, land-cover assessments and soil analyses. Case studies from Tanzania have been used to investigate how perceptions of land and resources manifest themselves at local scales and how this information can contribute to sustainable environmental planning. Preferences and perceptions of land as being ‘important’ and ‘good’ do not always correlate with favourable biogeophysical conditions, indicating that both social services, such as health care, access to markets, education and employment, as well as “non-rational” factors are essential to consider in environmental planning and management. This study has partly been part of a larger research project investigating the links between human livelihood and biodiversity in miombo woodlands. It has been shown how miombo woodland is important to local populations as it provides material goods as well as many intangible services. However, it is also associated with problems and dangers, which are important to consider and understand in planning for the environment and sustainable development.

Denna studie är en undersökning av hur elever i år 6 uppfattade det geografiska rummet, vilka omvärldsbilder elever i skolan innehade, hur de påverkades av olika intryck från omgivningen samt om elevernas omvärldsbilder förändrades under en termin. Att inneha en omvärldsbild innebär att ha en föreställning om hur den rumsliga världen ser ut och förhåller sig. Undersökningen var av empirisk art och bestod av en namngeografisk undersökning av geografiska objket i Sverige, elevernas ritade bilder av världen, intervjufrågor samt en kartförståelseuppgift. Studien genomfördes vid två olika tillfällen för att se på eventuella förändringar i elevernas omvärldsbilder. Studien visade på att elevernas omvärldsbilder påverkades, utvecklades och innehöll all den information individen mötte och hade med sig sedan tidigare om den rumsliga världen. Undersökningen visade även på att omvärldsbilder kan förändras och utvecklas unnder en termin.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vad elever har för uppfattningar om förhållandena mellan jorden, månen och solen. De områden somhar undersökts har gällt storlek, avstånd och rörelse. Denna studie har också undersökt hur elever uppfattar att månens faser uppkommer. Försök har också gjorts att utröna var deras uppfattningar härrör från. Undersökningen är baserad på 20 intervjuer med elever där deras egna teckningar av de undersökta fenomenen har utgjort grunden. Genom en kvalitativ fenomenografisk analys av intervjuerna har jag kategoriserat elevernas uppfattningar. Resultatet visar att elevernas uppfattningar ofta skiljer sig från den vedertagna vetenskapliga och att deras uppfattningar grundar sig på bilder eller modeller från TV och böcker, där förhållandena mellan objekten aldrig är de riktiga. Även om elever har haft undervisning i skolan så har de kvar sina egna föreställningar. Det visar sig också att det finns ett klart samband mellan elevernas intresse och deras resultat. The main purpose with this study was to explore students conceptions about the relations between the earth, the sun and the moon. The fields that have been investigated are size, distance and movement. This study has also investigated how students interpret the origin of the phases of the moon. Attempts have been made to find out where the students conceptions originate from. The study is based on 20 interviews with students where their own pictures about the investigated phenomena are the base. By doing a qualitative phenomenographical analysis of these interviews I’ve done categories of the students conceptions. The result shows that students conceptions often differs from the accepted scientific and that their conceptions are a result of pictures and models from TV and books, where the relations between the objects never are the real. Even if the students have had education they still keep on to their own conceptions. It also shows that there are a distinct connection between the students interest and their result.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vad elever har för uppfattningar om förhållandena mellan jorden, månen och solen. De områden somhar undersökts har gällt storlek, avstånd och rörelse. Denna studie har också undersökt hur elever uppfattar att månens faser uppkommer. Försök har också gjorts att utröna var deras uppfattningar härrör från. Undersökningen är baserad på 20 intervjuer med elever där deras egna teckningar av de undersökta fenomenen har utgjort grunden. Genom en kvalitativ fenomenografisk analys av intervjuerna har jag kategoriserat elevernas uppfattningar. Resultatet visar att elevernas uppfattningar ofta skiljer sig från den vedertagna vetenskapliga och att deras uppfattningar grundar sig på bilder eller modeller från TV och böcker, där förhållandena mellan objekten aldrig är de riktiga. Även om elever har haft undervisning i skolan så har de kvar sina egna föreställningar. Det visar sig också att det finns ett klart samband mellan elevernas intresse och deras resultat. The main purpose with this study was to explore students conceptions about the relations between the earth, the sun and the moon. The fields that have been investigated are size, distance and movement. This study has also investigated how students interpret the origin of the phases of the moon. Attempts have been made to find out where the students conceptions originate from. The study is based on 20 interviews with students where their own pictures about the investigated phenomena are the base. By doing a qualitative phenomenographical analysis of these interviews I’ve done categories of the students conceptions. The result shows that students conceptions often differs from the accepted scientific and that their conceptions are a result of pictures and models from TV and books, where the relations between the objects never are the real. Even if the students have had education they still keep on to their own conceptions. It also shows that there are a distinct connection between the students interest and their result.